their budgets cut, depending whether itthepentagonorother agencies. the agencies can try to shield some programs for others. social security benefits are not going to be cut. the pay for pentagon officials is not going to be cut. if this drags on into march or april, they will have to do furloughs, is essentially giving people vacations. host: the headline from "the wall street journal." is that one way to do that? guest: that is a painful way to do that. when people do not have money to spend, the economy is not going to grow. if this goes on for a couple of days and the stock market falls dramatically, congress and the white house may be able to avoid some of the long-term consequences. if everybody digs end, more disasters things could take hold. host: the president, vice president, speaker of the house, democratic leader of the house, will be meeting today. from the reporting you have done, what will be happening? guest: they could sit down and cut a deal in five minutes. they know all the issues. they know where their parties are. they could sit down in five minutes, shaking hands,

who are very upset with the cuts that would hitthepentagon. itmay be difficult to rally republican votes of the cannot turn off the sequester. on the democratic side, the estate tax could be a problem. the republicans are insistent that the estate tax stay at current levels, which is exempting the state of $55 million at a relatively late 35% above that level. many democrats would like to see -- in january it is expected to come -- taxes are expected to go up dramatically. as small as $1 million would be taxed. most democrats want to see something in the metal. they are adamant that we cannot exempt states as large as $5 million. that could be another sticking point. >> do we expect anything going on today? if not, what is the earliest of the senators will come back in for session tomorrow? caller: i think the senate is due back in at 1:00. the house is due at 6:30. the house is the big question mark here. it is very difficult to imagine what could pass the house. as for today, that is an excellent question. the senate is not in here the house is not an. my understanding as we are

,pentagon, watergate,iran-contra. >> clayton: i've had the pleasure of meeting him over the years and usually a fair-minded person so for him to come out and say this in person, he may have some evidence to show it's credible and may keep pushing forward. a lot of people are not happy the way that benghazi unto folded, that we were caught flat-footed and even though there were military members. >> and specifically what he's referring to, having read the transcript, on thursday there was a senate foreign relations committee asking exactly the same questions they asked on the first day of the benghazi tragedy and that is the cia memo left the cia with the specific references to al-qaeda in it. by the time the memo was presented to susan rice and came out of her mouth on the sunday morning talk shows, those records as to al-qaeda had been spiked, who did that? even after the report, they don't know who sponged those references. once again on thursday, he says, come on, this is the question. >> and four individuals lost their jobs at the state department as a result of the report that

, so do have the debt ceiling fight coming up. when you say that it faces and, you expectthepentagontosay we would just hold everything? certainly years, serving months ahead of time. they have to plan on how many people to have in their workforce -- in the force, recruiting. you cannot turn on a dime, like a huge oil tanker. >> john, we will focus on folks that we did not know who are here. we will come right back. don't go away. take five minutes. >> this is just -- >> we saw senators mccain and 11 decide they will come back in a couple of minutes. as we wait, back to something that took place earlier this morning outside the capital. -- the capitol. >> i want to thank you for being here to call on house republicans not to drop the ball on the middle-class. also for the house to show up for work, right? the president is down at the white house, senator harkin and his colleagues are here. they are out on a paid vacation right now. boehner walked out of the allegations with the present and then he walked out of the house and tell all members to go home while we are four days away f

with the cuts that would hitthepentagon. itmay be difficult to rally republican votes if they cannot turn off the sequester. and the democratic side, the estate tax could be a problem. republicans are insisting that the estate tax stay at current .evels, which is exemp many democrats would like to see -- in january, it is scheduled to go up automaticalldramatically. most democrats want to see something in the middle. they are adamant that we cannot exempt states as large as $5 million. >> lori montgomery, do we expect anything going on today, and if not, when is the earliest the senators will come back and recession tomorrow? >> the senate is due back in at 1:00. the house is due in at 6:30. the house is the big question mark here. as for today, it is an excellent question. the senate is not in. the house is not in. my understanding is we're going to have basically everyone working quietly to see if we can reach an agreement co. i will be interesting to see if they give us any information today. >> lori montgomery of the "washington post." find her articles at wp.com. >> both chambers of cong